Bhavani Devi's medal quest ends in Asian Games after defeat in quarterfinals

India's bright medal prospect Bhavani Devi faced an unfortunate end to her campaign as she was knocked out of the medal race with a defeat against China's Shao Yaqi in the quarterfinal. Before coming into the game, she was on an unbeaten run of six games.

Hangzhou(China): India's hopes of a medal in fencing from Bhavani Devi came crashing down on Monday as she was eliminated from the medal race courtesy of a defeat against China's Shao Yaqi who was a defending silver medalist at the Asian Games.

The top-seeded Indian was on a six-game winning streak before this loss. The Indian fencer displayed remarkable strength and spirit but faced a tough challenge which turned out to be too hot to handle for Bhavani as she suffered a loss by a scoreline of 7-15.

Earlier in the day, she topped her pool by outplaying all five opponents. Bhavani started her campaign with a victory against Singapore opponent Singapore rival Juliet Jie Min Heng 5-2 and followed it up with a 5-1 win against Saudi Arabia's Alhsna Alhammad.

Karina Dospay was her next victim, as she handed a loss to her by 5-3 while the next two wins came against Uzbekistan's Zaynab Dayibekova and Roksana Khatun of Bangladesh by identical 5-1 margins and the fencer kept her winning streak intact.

The 30-year-old became the first Indian fencer in the Olympics in Tokyo Olympics. Also, she won bronze in the Asian Fencing Championship earlier this year registering her name in the history books. Considering her earlier achievements, she was considered to be a bright medal prospect but the defeat against Chinese opponents crushed her medal hopes.

Although she was eliminated from the medal race, India will hope their other fencers to shine in the competition and take some medals home.